Past-Tense Song

In Swedish Aa, Ursula Lindqvist and Suzanne Martin used the song "Den första gång jag såg dig" (The First Time I Saw You) by well-known Swedish troubador Birger Sjöberg to help students learn past-tense verbs and about Swedish culture. For homework, they had to identify the verbs in the first verse of the song and chart them; the second part of the assignment was writing their own verses.

Some students wrote dedications to their loved ones, one wrote a funny verse about hunting a bear, another about a student who stole his seat in the dining hall, and another wrote the verse to the entire Swedish class. According to Suzanne, "writing new lyrics, both serious and parodic, is very common in Sweden!"